In that time frame, companies are expected to make significant changes to their vehicle fleets, including increasing production of hybrids and incorporating more fuel efficient techniques in traditional internal combustion engines.

However, those new technologies and techniques are developed may not come directly from the automakers, according to Robert Bosch LLC President, Chairman and CEO Peter Marks.

“We will have significant impact because fuel economy is something that is right up our alley,” Marks told MLive.com. “We have already back in the 70s, when the first oil crisis hit the world, that we have to develop more cars that are more fuel efficient and environmentally more friendly.

“So our portfolio is very vast and it is really required in order to get to the fuel efficiency in 2025.”

Marks, along with a dozen or so other Bosch executives, spoke Monday at the company’s Automotive Electronics Division in Plymouth about how their technology advancements – from engine components to GPS technology – can help automakers achieve the 2025 CAFE standards.

While many consider the new CAFE regulations “ambitious,” Bosch is taking a proactive approach and looking at how each component of a vehicle can be tweaked to increase fuel economy and decrease CO2 emissions.

Besides turning every vehicle into all-electric vehicles or hybrids, which on average remain $5,000 more than traditional internal combustion engines, how will automakers meet the standards?

Marks, and other automotive executives agree, the future of the automotive industry is a mixture of new technologies combined with the internal combustion engine.

Below are ways Bosch looks to help automakers meet CAFE standards.

Clean diesel engines

While U.S. consumers have been slow to accept diesel engines, Bosch says almost one out of every three Americans now consider buying diesel, and more than one-third of consumers who are offered a diesel option purchase one.

“All these indicators for increasing consumer acceptance of diesels have translated in renewed interest of car manufacturers in diesels,” said Bosch Regional President of Diesel Systems Bernd Boisten. “Many new vehicles are coming to the market in 2013.”

Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co. are expected to release new diesel models in two years.

Boisten said diesels are 30 percent more fuel-efficient and maintain a higher residual value compared to traditional gasoline engines.

“Clean diesel technology is still in the beginning of its life-cycle,” he said. “The diesel system itself has potential to further improve fuel economy.”

By 2020, analysts predict diesels will be 10 percent of the U.S. market.

Start/stop systems

It’s a relatively simple process that some automakers are already using. The engine shuts off when it is not needed.

A simple start/stop system, which shuts the engine off when the vehicle is stopped, can improve fuel economy 2-3 percent; and future advanced engine start/stop models, which shuts off the engine when stopped as well as when coasting, are expected can increase fuel economy by 10 percent.

“In the real world, depending on your drive cycle or driving habits, it could be much higher,” said Scott Dahl, Bosch North America regional president of starter motors and generators. “So you can see the future is really going forward into this more start/stop coasting.”

A start-stop system or stop-start system automatically shuts down and restarts the internal combustion engine to reduce the amount of time the engine spends idling, thereby improving fuel economy and reducing emissions.

Bosch expects 50 percent of U.S. vehicles being produced in 2017 to have some sort of start/stop system.

Direct injection engines

While Bosch, which has invested more than $550 million in electric vehicle development, believes the electric vehicle and hybrid market to remain under 1 million units in 2020, it sees gasoline direct injection engines increasing 39 percent to 6.3 million units.

“What is the reason for this? The answer is fuel economy,” said Hakan Yilmaz, Bosch manager of system and advanced engineering of gasoline systems.

Yilmaz said port fuel injection systems combined with other available technologies, such as start/stop systems and turbocharging, can significantly increase an engine’s fuel efficiency.

"Engine displacement downsizing with the help of turbo charging and gasoline direct injection, combined with other available technologies, such as start/stop systems and thermo-management, can increase an engine's fuel efficiency by nearly 24 percent compared to baseline gasoline engine with port fuel injection," he said. "If we take it one step further with the help of variable valve lift systems and achieve extreme engine downsizing, this number reaches 30 percent."

The gasoline in direct injection internal combustion engines is highly pressurized, and injected via a common rail fuel line directly into the combustion chamber of each cylinder, as opposed to conventional multi-point fuel injection that happens in the intake tract, or cylinder port.

Electric power steering

It’s not a secret that the electrification of vehicles is expected to play a major role in improving fuel efficiency to meet the CAFÉ standards. But one element that not many may have heard about is electric power steering “guiding” the way to help a vehicle’s fuel efficiency.

The acceptance of EPS continues to grow as the demand for improvements in fuel economy and emissions grow,” said Tim Frasier, Regional President Bosch Automotive Electronics Division. “When it comes to fuel economy, EPS is one of the top non-powertrain fuel savers.”

According to Frasier, while the steering itself only saves the average driver a fuel of gas annually (nationally could save 420 million gallons of fuel a year); it is a catalyst for fuel efficiency and advanced technology, such as driver drowsiness detection, throughout a vehicle.

“In the future we see EPS being integrated into technological advancements such as integrated lane keeping and under and over steering compensation with the potential to ultimately lead to complete autonomous driving.”

Vehicles such as the Chevrolet Volt and Equinox, GMC Terrain and Buick LaCrosse and Regal all use EPS technology from Bosch.

Dashboard technology, including GPS and driver monitoring

One of the simplest ways to save gas and improve fuel economy is educating drivers with dashboard technology, according to Bosch.

In 2007, Bosch began offering an “eco route” option on its navigation systems, which optimized the quickest route with the most direct route.

Mark Peters, Bosch North America director of engineering & program for car multimedia, said technology in a vehicle, as seen in many hybrid models, can also track a person’s driving habits to better educate them on when they should be coasting and the best times to use cruise control.